this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2025
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I really hope that you never get a proper storm. Someone tried to grow redwoods in KY. He was trying to have a way to legally harvest the wood. Grew the couple acres of redwood trees to over 80 feet in height by year 20. Then a thunderstorm came through, and knocked all the trees down. The root systems don't have a massive taproot, and spread horizontally.
I'm not sure what qualifies as a "proper" storm for you - the UK never gets anything like the cyclones in India or the Caribbean - but we did have one of our worst on record at the start of this year. I actually haven't been along to the place since then. If I get a chance this weekend I'll go have a look, see if I can get some photos for shalafi elsewhere in this thread too
I'm talking about the high wind thunderstorms that frequent the US. Not as big as a cyclone or hurricane, but just as destructive.
https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/y8xcnjxrg24.jpg
I'm glad to report that they're still standing! These photos aren't great, but they do at least show how much taller they are than every other tree in the area and the incredibly confusing presence of an old phone box is a helpful comparison for how chunky they are
However, I also found out that these are dawn redwoods, the smallest variety of redwoods. These don't even get to half the height of the giant ones in California and they're still the biggest trees I've ever seen in person
Also tagging @shalafi@lemmy.world
Neat to see. That one looks to be about the size of the Norwegian Pine in my parent's front yard. It and it's sibling are on the top 10 list for largest Norwegian pines in the world
How do they fair in their native western US?
They really do better in groves with lots of root systems entangled, providing each other mutual support. Quick-growing them plantation style reveals the weakness of the root systems.
Similarly, when the naturally grown redwoods were logged in the us west, the ones that were intentionally left to serve as seed stock for reforestation often fell down without their tree-bros.
Modern practices dictate leaving small groves intact rather than isolated individual trees.
We don't really get that in the UK. If they survived the "hurricane" of 1987, chances are they're still there.